T +44 (0) 1243 868080
F +44 (0) 1243 871667
Opening Hours
Monday - Friday
8.30am - 5.30pm
Saturday
8.30am - 4.00pm
(Exc. Bank Holidays)
- 01 January 1970
- Days
- £
Ref · Single room supplement NIL
Craiglands Hotel
This grand three-star hotel is set in six acres of landscaped and wooded grounds on the edge of the small spa town of Ilkley. Originally built in 1858, the hotel has recently been refurbished and has pleasant bar and lounge areas and a restaurant which overlooks the rose garden. The bedrooms are equipped with TV, telephone, trouser press, hairdryer and hospitality tray. Some rooms are accessible by lift.
Shap Wells Hotel
This splendid hotel which dates from 1833, lies in 30 acres of private grounds in a wooded valley, high in the Shap Fells. Arrival at the hotel begins with a mile long drive along a private road, with breathtaking and rugged scenery in every direction, sheep and cattle, a pretty waterfall and a trickling stream. There are extensive bar and lounge areas in which to relax and the bedrooms are equipped with TV, telephone, hairdryer and hospitality tray. Most rooms are accessible by lift.
ITINERARY
Day 1 A morning collection from your home by taxi before joining our coach for our journey north to West Yorkshire, making suitable refreshment stops along the way and arriving at our hotel in Ilkley late afternoon.
Day 2 Today we journey into the Yorkshire Dales National Park, via Grassington and the pretty village of Kettlewell, along Wharfedale and up to the market town of Hawes. The town has plenty of places to get refreshments and we visit the Wensleydale Cheese Visitor Centre, which houses a museum and a speciality cheese store. The afternoon is spent in a scenic drive through the beautiful countryside of the Dales.
Day 3 We make our way to Skipton to board our carriage on the railway which will carry us first to Settle and then onto Carlisle. First opened in 1876, and agreed to be one of the most beautiful rail journeys in the country, the line tracks the sparkling River Ribble, through the narrow, wooded valley and up into the wide, high moors. We have views across dry-stone-walled fields, of the iron-age fort atop Inglesborough, and we travel across the famous 24-arch Ribblehead Viaduct, through Blea Moor Tunnel and over the Dent Head Viaduct. We go through Dent, the highest mainline station in England, through Rise Hill Tunnel, along Garsdale, over the Moorcock Viaduct and through Appleby before reaching our destination of Carlisle. Here our coach will be waiting to transfer us to Shap for our three night stay.
Day 4 We spend the day visiting some of the beautiful northern lakes including Derwent Water and Thirlmere. We take a cruise on Lake Ullswater with ‘Ullswater Steamers’ between Pooley Bridge and Glenridding and visit the Rheged Visitor Centre. We return to our hotel late afternoon.
Day 5 After breakfast we head west to the Lake District National Park’s only coastal village of Ravenglass. We board a train for a ride on the seven-mile Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, through hidden Miterdale, to the grandeur of the Eskdale Valley and Dalegarth, at the foot of England’s highest mountains. We return to Shap via Newby Bridge and along the shores of Lake Windermere.
Day 6 We make our way home via the National Memorial Arboretum near Lichfield, and arrive in the local area early evening to meet our taxis and continue home.